Metta World Peace Says ‘Kobe Show’ is Not Good for the Lakers

According to the always-quotable Metta World Peace, the Los Angeles Lakers can only thrive if everyone is contributing on the offensive end. When Kobe Bryant becomes too dominant (aka, the “Kobe Show”), the team struggles. Metta was pleased to see the offense get spread out in Philly last night. Per the LA Times: “Bryant stuck it to the fans in his hometown with 34 points, and the Lakers lived at the three-point line, making 14 of 34. The 10 they made in the first half tied a team record. Metta World Peace had 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, and lobbied for more sharing of the ball in Coach Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo scheme. Bryant took only 21 shots Sunday (making 12) after averaging 27 the previous three games. ‘I’m happy that Coach went back to his offense,’ World Peace said. ‘He was hired for a reason. He was hired to bring an offense in. When he got here, he got a little complacent, a little bit confident, and went away from this offense and it turned into the Kobe show. When it turns into the Kobe show, it’s hard for everybody to put pressure on. When we put pressure on the other team, all five guys out there, they’ve got to use their legs. Anybody that uses a treadmill, they know you get tired after a while. After an hour, you want to get off that treadmill. Sometimes when we play, Kobe is the only man running on the treadmill and everybody else is relaxing. But [Sunday] Kobe led the way and made sure that his team was working, moving the ball, moving bodies and they all had to run the treadmill today.’ D’Antoni told players he wanted a return to team ball for the first 16 seconds of the shot clock, then let Bryant or Dwight Howard take control in the final eight seconds.”